Thursday, July 31, 2014

Hasbro's Tooth Tunes: Toothbrush Puts Music in Your Mouth, Not in Your Ears

When I first saw a commercial for 'tooth tunes' by Hasbro I was immediately drawn in. What a concept! A toothbrush that will play music through my teeth, and into my head. Uh huh!
Once I saw the commercial I also wondered how expensive this new tooth
brush would be. $20, $30, maybe more? Once my mind started thinking
about the ridiculous price, I realized it wasn't something I really
needed. However on a recent trip to K-Bee Toys with my niece, I found
the tooth tunes I knew I would want. It was one specially designed with
Napoleon Dynamite in mind. It played the Canned Heat song from his
famous dancing scene, and it also played some mini clips Napoleon
Dynamite is famous for. I slid my $10 over to the clerk and made my way
home with my new tooth tunes tooth brush.
The toothbrush itself was designed for a child's mouth, but I didn't care, I wanted to try it! Why should kids be the only ones to get all of the cool stuff!?
The toothbrush itself was packaged in a plastic seal, that almost
landed me in the emergency room while trying to rip it open. Why
companies still insist on making plastic packaging so heavy duty is
beyond me? A simple box would have suited just fine, and would have been
more Eco-friendly...but whatever. A warning to those buying this one,
be careful when opening this packages, and try not to use a knife like I
did.
The toothbrush was blue and had Napoleon's picture attached to the
handle. Each tooth tune brush has a different song, and will also
feature their face on the toothbrush. Colors of brushes will also vary.
The toothbrush itself is supposedly designed for children's hands,
however it seemed large and bulky to me. I could see a child easily
dropping this one numerous times while trying to hold on to the
toothbrush. On the handle is a small button. If you press this button
and hold the toothbrushes head down a bit, you can actually hear mumbles
of music before even putting it into your mouth. I was a bit mad about
this, I was thinking you'd only hear it while brushing! I felt like I
had just bought a gimmick.
I read the box before using it, it mentions that music will play for
approximately 2 minutes while brushing. This is how long you should be
brushing you teeth, so when the music stops you know that it's time to
stop brushing.
I then read the cool description. Its basically the same thing they
mentioned on the commercials. The music travels through your teeth,
through the jawbone, and to the inner ear. That's how you hear the
music. Bah! I was hearing it even without brushing.
I placed some toothpaste on the brush, and began brushing. Keep in
mind that you will hear muffles of nothing if you leave the water
running while brushing; so turn it off!
I heard the music while I was brushing, but it was a very low tone
sound. In order for me to really hear sound, I had to place the back of
the tooth brushes head on my teeth. But who the hell brushes with the
back of it? I cant brush with the plastic part! But this seems to
be the only way to hear a good quality sound. Bummer. Not only that,
but in order to hear the song at it's best, you can't move it around. So
instead of making a toothbrush that plays music, they should have made a
toothpick or tooth stick to place in your mouth for music. Not only
that, but the tooth brush played the mini clips in the middle of the
music. The interruption was annoying. I thought it would play things
separately, but it didn't.
This whole musical toothbrush concept is a bust!
OTHER TUNES:
For those of you with spoiled kids screaming and moaning that the 'need'
one, even after reading how lame this product is, you can also check
out tunes from Hilary Duff, High School Musical, Beach Boys, Black Eyed
Peas, YMCA, Kiss, Rocky theme song, and many many more.
You can read more, and check out all available songs at http://www.hasbro.com/toothtunes/.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY:
You can pick up any tooth tune tooth brush for $10 or less. I have
seen them at Toys'r'us, K-Bee Toys, and Walmart. I'm sure though that
you can find them at any store in the bath product isles.
OVERALL:
I'd seriously just avoid them. Although your kids may be driving you
crazy over them, they are no better than a standard $2 toothbrush. Not
only that but if your kid is attempting to hear the music best and
places the plastic head of the toot brush on their teeth for too long, I
could imagine chipping happening if they bite down on it too hard. I
wouldn't recommend this waste of natural resources to anyone.